Fabulous Five 014 - The Seventh-Grade Menace Read Online Free PDF Page A

embarrassing wearing the gym
shirt all afternoon.
    "I hear you and Randy are running for Mr. and Miss
Seventh Grade," said Marcie Bee, whose locker was next to Jana's. She was
taking out some books for her next class.
    "Yes, we are," Jana replied as she dialed the
number on her combination. She hoped that Miss Simone, the principal's
secretary, would accept the messed-up petitions. It would be a pain to have to
ask all those kids for their signatures again.
    "Yeek!" Jana gasped, and felt a shock wave at what
she saw when she opened the door.
    "What's wrong?" Marcie asked as she yanked Jana's
locker door farther open so she could see.
    Jana couldn't get out a single word. All she could do was
point. Inside her locker the clothes hanging from the hooks were covered with a
red mess that was dripping down on her gym shoes. The books and notebooks lying
at the bottom of the locker looked even worse. They were drenched in the thick
red substance.
    Gingerly Jana picked the sleeve of her jacket up with two
fingers and examined it closely. It looked too thick to be blood. She sniffed
it. It smelled like tomato. It was catsup.
    "Oh, no, not you too," exclaimed Marcie. "I
just saw Mona Vaughn and Whitney Larkin. Someone had squirted that icky red
stuff into their lockers, too. It was all over their clothes and books. Who
could have done such a thing?"
    "I'm not sure," Jana murmured. Angrily, she pushed
aside the jacket to check the white gym-suit shirt she had promised Katie.
There was a small smear of catsup on the tail. It could be washed and the damp
spot wouldn't show when it was tucked in, but that wouldn't make Katie feel any
better. She was mad enough already at having the chocolate milk spilt on her.
Jana's shoes and the two books she had tossed in the bottom of the locker were worse
off. They were drenched in the icky red stuff.
    Jana leaned against the door of her locker with the soiled
shirt in her hand. Why had someone squirted catsup all over her things? Whoever
it was must have taken one of the squeeze-type catsup bottles from the
cafeteria to do it. The pointy spout would fit perfectly through the louvers in
the locker doors. That meant it had been planned.
    The thought shocked Jana, and a sinking feeling settled in
the pit of her stomach. She had been feeling so happy. Everyone was saying she
and Randy were so well-liked that they would be a cinch to win the Mr. and Miss
Seventh Grade contests. Someone certainly doesn't like me, she thought. I don't
know for sure that it was Geena, but who else could it be?
    She took the gym shirt from its hook and hurried to the
girls' room to give it to Katie.
    Katie was still fuming when Jana got there, and the catsup
on the shirt didn't help her temper. She was so angry when Jana explained what
had happened that her face turned almost as red as her hair.
    "That girl is a bully," Katie snarled as she
patted the wet spot where the catsup had been with a paper towel.
    "I don't know for sure that she did it," said
Jana, trying to sound reasonable even though her emotions kept telling her the
sneak catsup squirter had been Geena.
    Katie stopped patting the wet spot and looked up at her. "Can
you think of anyone else who might have done it?"
    "No, I can't. But remember, you're the one who is
always saying we have to be fair, and until we have proof, we can't convict
her."
    Katie sighed and tucked the still-moist shirttail into her
pants. "There are some times when it's harder to be fair than others."
    "There's one thing I haven't told you," said Jana.
    Katie raised her eyebrows questioningly.
    "Someone squirted catsup in Mona's and Whitney's
lockers, too."
    Katie waved her finger in the air. "What did I tell
you? Who else would have done a thing like that to the three of you? You're on
her list."
    "Well, if we're on her list, why would she want to
spill chocolate milk on you? You said you hadn't even talked to her."
    "I don't think she intended to spill the milk on
me," responded